Forever Now
by ThreeMagpies
Summary: This is for the GSC Topsy Turvy Challenge - like a lot of us, I can't resist a challenge. Charlie is doing what Bass did when something happened that seemed unbearable, running away into the dark - and Bass is the one who stays steady - I hope you like it… Magpie ps: I'm a happy ending sort of writer so don't worry…oh, there is smut...


**Forever Now…**

A Revolution fic (No Blackout AU): Sebastian (Bass) Monroe/Charlotte (Charlie) Matheson; Charloe.

Rating M…

**Authors note:** Thanks so much for reading! This is for the GSC Topsy Turvy Challenge… Because, like a lot of us – I can't resist a challenge...The title of the story is from a song of the same name by Cold Chisel – the lyrics fit pretty well too… Charlie is doing what Bass did when something happened that seemed unbearable, running away into the dark - and Bass is the one who stays steady… It's a bit different to the stories I usually seem to write, but it was what wanted to be written – and I hope you like it… Magpie ps: I'm a happy ending sort of writer so don't worry…

**Forever Now… **

She drove the car like she did everything else…fast and with everything she had. But this time, she was running and that meant she went faster than even she was comfortable with, the needle rising higher, her heart pounding… adrenaline making every second seem to stretch into the next, every bend in the road a blur of half seen tree trunks, shrubs, curving white lines, waving grasses and road side reflectors like animal eyes; the head lights making everything seem sudden, flat and alien…the colors of the world faded to blacks and whites… like wrong and right – no grey there…

Suddenly the bounding, leaping shape of a deer burst onto the road just before the next bend and she slammed on the brakes, not willing to hit it, not wanting another death on her spread sheet of grief and loss… and the night swerved and screamed and circled and spun around her like a crazy fucking whirlwind …

And then there was nothing…

….

'Charlie?' the voice was familiar, loved, wanted at any other time… But why was he here? How was he here?

'Charlie…' Nooo, she pushed him away…

'Please, Charlie… Come back, damn it…' the voice got louder…

She shut it out… didn't want to hear… then there were other voices, lights, colors flashing on and off, hands lifting her… pain like glass shattering… Then, at last, nothing …

….

She woke up to white sheets, white walls, white ceiling…white everything… except a shining golden card on the white bedside table, next to a single yellow rose in a thick crystal vase... She reached out with an arm bandaged from wrist to elbow… The card was beautiful; creamy, handmade paper embossed with intricate patterns picked out in gold… and inside, a few words in a heavy, masculine hand…'Not your fault…'

She looked at the card, the words echoing round and round in her head until the only thing she could hear was 'Your fault… Your fault... Your fault…' she flung the arm and the card away as hard as she could and the rose went flying through the air, its crystal vase and the water inside catching the light with tiny rainbows and cascades of droplets that sprayed out like rain, or tears…

…

She kept her eyes closed… she could hear them, talking about her life, about the mess she'd made of things, how she'd failed… It had been her job to look after Danny and her dad… Her mom had told her that when she'd left them to go to Uncle Miles. Her job to keep them safe… She was the strong one, the one they relied on; the one who made things happen… She was supposed to make sure they were ok…

But where had she been when that fucking drunk driver had just…just…run them down while they were crossing the road...

She hadn't been there, she was late picking them up because she'd stayed longer with Bass… It was her fault…and now they were gone..

…

Every now and then she heard voices… Her mom, Miles...and Bass, always Bass, and voices she didn't know, nurses and doctors she supposed… Then when she was almost awake there were the unmistakable sounds and smells of hospital; the regular interruptions of her uneasy sleep by brusque, competent hands, taking obs, lights in her eyes… making her eat, making her drink, helping her to undress, to wash, to dress again, rolling her one side, then the other, her senses reeling at the changes in attitude, changes in altitude, not wanting to think, not wanting to do…

…

She opened her eyes, carefully and just a crack, so that he wouldn't see, because she wasn't quite ready to talk, not yet… and he was there again, the way he'd been there each time she opened her eyes… Bass… In the easy chair next to the bed, his long legs splayed out, jeans rumpled… his muscular body relaxed in sleep; curly hair mussed against the leather back of the chair, his strong hands resting on the wide armrests, the fingers elegant… She saw that his beard had grown out… it curled lightly around his jaw, softening the clean lines and throwing a light shadow on the curve of his neck… There were new lines across the broad, high forehead and around the edges of his mouth… dark circles under his eyes…

Oh Bass… a tear made its way down her cheek although she hadn't given it permission to leave… She wasn't ready to cry yet either…

….

Then, a new morning… the sun streaming in through the blinds like warm fingers, reaching out to her, shining through the skin of her eyelids and becoming all colours… Dazzled, she opened her eyes…'Bass?' her voice sounded rusty and dry, she coughed…

'Charlie…' he sat up… his blue eyes so bright in the sunlight that she just gazed at them, dazzled again…

'I'm sorry about the car…' she was so sorry, sorry that she'd driven off in the car, sorry that she hadn't taken her bike; sorry that she'd failed him too…

The blue eyes filled and became like starbursts, hazy like raindrops on a windscreen… 'Fuck the damn car…'

'I should have taken my bike, Bass – not the car…'

He shook his head and leaned forward 'The car had a roll cage, which is what saved your life…' his lips tightened, 'If you'd taken your bike you'd be dead, Charlie, just like Danny and Ben… and I'd be the one on my own' he took one of her hands, his fingers lacing through hers…'is that what you wanted…?'

She shook her head…'No…no...'

'Then shut up about the fucking car…' His eyes were angry now... Charlie felt her own widen as he came closer, looming, his breath reaching her before he did…warm and smelling faintly of mint… his fingers tightening on hers… 'I followed you on the bike Charlie, I could only just keep up with you… You were going too fucking fast for the road and you know it…' his eyes were hard, accusing…'you were chickening out weren't you…'

She stared at him, horrified, her heart a cold lump in her throat… 'Bass…'

He leaned even closer until all she could see were his eyes, boring into hers… She'd never seen him so angry, even when he was racing or fighting in the ring he never got angry… he just focused and beat whoever it was he was up against…

'Is that what you think Ben and Danny would want, Charlie?'

She took the question seriously although it was hard to think with him so close; she could feel the heat of his body beating onto her skin, his lips so close to hers… a memory flashed suddenly of those lips soft and clever on hers, on her body, and it brought a flush of colour to her cheeks… She swallowed hard and shook her head…'No – no, it isn't' and she realised that it really wasn't, her Dad and Danny had both loved life, always, even when it was hard work or when bad things happened… They would want her to live, to make the most of her life, not to waste it…

He took a deep breath, his broad shoulders relaxing a little, the almost frightening intensity in his eyes and face dying down just a fraction…'Ok, that's my girl…' he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the knuckles…looking at her face over the bandages on her arm. His forehead creased in a frown, the lines deeper than she remembered… 'You were lucky Charlie…' he looked back at her face…'I was lucky…' his eyes grew hazy again, 'because you're still here, and you've still got me, and Miles and your mom…'

Charlie let out a long breath…'I won't do it again Bass, I promise…'

He nodded 'Good…' he kissed her hand again…'Because it's going to take you fucking forever to pay me back for the car' his eyes narrowed, glinting, and he ran his tongue over the skin of her hand, making her shiver…

She was shocked into a sort of gasping laugh…'Bastard, it was half mine…' Then her face fell...'Oh no…' she met his eyes, hers wide and appalled… 'Bass, what about the race…?' she slumped back against the pillows…'God I'm so stupid – we're out of the race…'

Bass took both her hands and pulled her back up, unresisting, her body lighter than he remembered in his hands…'It's ok, Charlie, it's ok… Jeremy's already said we can use his second car, he's just finished fitting her out and Miles will be second if you aren't up to it, its still a month away…' He held her up with one arm and pushed a strand of honey blond hair back behind her ear with the other hand…'but you still owe me, big time, and I know what I want…' His hand wound behind her neck and he leaned forward to kiss her, bringing her towards him, his lips firm on hers and so, so sweet… He pulled back a tiny bit…his eyes softer on her now, relief making them the clear blue of the sky, his lips even smiling a little…'and I'm willing to accept payment in kind…' he ran his hand back down from her neck, trailing over her shoulders, around the curve of a breast, down over her hip, gently pulling her knees towards him…'So you need to take better care of yourself, Charlie because all of this is mine now…'

She smiled back at him from the cushion of his arm…although her eyes were serious… 'It's always been yours Bass…' she reached up and ran her fingers lightly over his face and down… the tips catching in the springy strands of his scruff… She pulled his head down towards her and she breathed in his warm scent, felt his lips on hers, gentle but demanding…

Then he pulled back and lowered her back against the pillows…

'Why did you stop…?' she said, her body already buzzing from the kiss and wanting more…

He took a deep breath, rubbed his hands over his face then rested his elbows on his spread thighs… 'Charlie, you've been in and out of it for more than a week now, you should take it easy… you're not strong enough for anything like that yet…'

Her eyes got stormy again… 'Fuck that… I've spent enough time resting in here already…' she pushed herself up, ignoring the slight pull from the injury on her arm… and flung the covers out of the way so she could move properly. There was a bandage wrapped around her right calf, several dressings scattered over other parts of her body and her hand had the marks where a canula had been but apart from that, things seemed to be ok, at least nothing seemed to be missing…Bass was right, she'd been very lucky, and her heart seemed to falter for a moment when she thought about what had nearly happened…

Then she stopped and looked again at what she was wearing…. The soft white silky nightgown was unfamiliar… Charlie knew she didn't own anything as sweetly, girly pretty as this; it had a low neckline, delicate lace edging and the curves of her breasts and their pink nipples were just visible through the gauzy material… 'Wow… Mom always wanted me to dress in pretty things…guess she got her chance huh…' she reefed it up, shimmying it over her hips, breasts, arms then over her head…flinging it across the room and sighed in satisfaction… 'Now that's heaps better…'

Then she looked down, her top lip curling at the sight of the sensible, white cotton grandma briefs and she wriggled out of those too, then tossed them off the side of the bed, lay back on the narrow bed and arranged herself in an elegant pose, one leg gracefully bent over the other to show off the curve of her hip, one arm lazily draping over her belly, ensuring that both of her breasts were nicely displayed…

She pulled a strand of hair down and curled it over one shoulder…looking up at Bass from under her lashes… 'where were we?'

His eyes lit up…their electric blue almost blinding this close and his smile gave her goose bumps... He stood up, never taking his eyes off her… Then he went over to the door and clicked the lock…

Charlie watched him, lazily running her fingers over the soft fabric of the bed-sheet as he took his worn, favourite leather jacket off and hung it over the back of the chair, gripped the hem of his black muscle tee and stripped that off too, laying it over the jacket…His boots were next and she smiled, he loved his cowboy boots – and the worn jeans, baggy at the knees… She ran her tongue over her lips then, he usually went commando and today was no different... and Bass dropping his jeans was a sight to make any red-blooded woman weak at the knees, so it was a good job she was lying down already…

She looked him up and down as he stood and gazed at her… her bottom lip gripped between her teeth…

His cock was already full and high, rearing above the neatly trimmed curls and full, tightly packed balls nestled between his legs…and when he reached down to stroke himself, smiling at her while he did it, the tease… she felt a surge like a vibrating string from her clit to the top of her head….

He strode towards her and examined the mechanism of the hospital bed… 'This should make it go up a bit I think…'

Charlie turned over until she was on her stomach, her eyes laughing up at him…'what are you doing…?'

He pressed something and suddenly the bed shot up about two feet, making her gasp and grab for the edges… Bass made a satisfied noise…'The bed's a bit too small for the two of us and I'm too tall for anything to work properly with it that low…' he grinned wickedly down at her…'Now though...' he went to the foot of the bed and pulled her towards him by her ankles until her legs were off the end, then let go, she bent at the hips, the tip of her big toes just touching the tiled floor...

Charlie twisted her head back over her shoulder, lifting herself up on her elbows so she could see him… he licked his lips…'Charlie you look fucking amazing... we got to get us one of these beds…'

She raised her eyebrows…

Bass chuckled…his voice deep and low… then he ran his hands over the full globes of her ass, separating them and spreading her legs out, making her stretch to keep her toes on the floor, the muscles of her thighs and ass flexing and releasing as she did, her breath coming faster, her back arching down; her belly pressing into the bed sending her ass higher towards him… He slid one hand down between her cheeks, the fingers testing, curling and playing between her legs, her wetness spreading over his fingers…

Charlie felt the delicious tension build inside, her heart beat speeding up, her position on the bed making her feel exposed and so, so open to him, she swallowed…'I think… they'd sell them on ebay… or gumtree…maybe…?' her breath rose in a drawn in wail and she stretched her arms down in front of her, her breasts rubbing against the soft cotton of the sheet… her forehead pressing down as he made her come and come…. She felt herself melting into the bed, her hands twisting into the sheet… her legs and ass relaxed, hanging off the edge…

He moved against her and she felt the heavy, hard ridge of him against her cleft as he shifted his hips a little up and down… his cock moving through her wet folds feeling so good that she moaned with the pleasure of it…

He leaned down a little and caught her legs with his hands, bringing her knees up so that her legs were circling around his… then hold her with one hand, she felt him reach down to position himself at her entrance, rubbing the head of his cock against her waiting, wanting pussy, then he moved into her, slowly, so slowly, his cock stretching her out and filling her up… Charlie heard his breath catch as he got all the way inside…'Charlie…fuck this feels so good….' Then he pulled out and plunged back in, his hands gripping her hips, holding her hard in place, starting a steady rhythm that made her forget everything but this… but him… she pushed her ass back against him, inviting him to plunge harder, faster, celebrating life, living, being here, being together...

'Charlie…' his voice, gasping…'I need to pull out now or…'

She'd made her choice... she'd let him make his…'Stay if you want to, Bass, inside, I want you to, if you want to…' she ran out of breath…

She heard his breath catch and then suddenly he was a storm behind her and inside her, his arms stretching out along her back, surrounding her with his warmth, his cock stretching and filling, drawing back then coming again until she felt him fill her up, until she was full with him… his breath hot on the curve of her back…his hands stroking over her hair and shoulders, thumbs and fingers leaving her muscles loose and just blissful...

Then he was stretched out beside her, the bed just big enough for him to slide underneath her, lifting her with his easy strength so that she was lying on top of him, her belly pressed to his, her breasts rounded against his chest, his hands roaming over her back, her ass, his tall body cushioning her like all of her favourite things at once…

'Charlie…?'

Charlie felt so good words were sort of difficult…'yeah…?'

'So you wouldn't mind having kids…?'

She smiled against the base of his neck, kissing the hollow there… giving it a little bit of tongue and loving that it made him squirm… 'As long as they were yours, Bass….'

He was quiet for a moment…she felt his breath move her up and down, his heart beat loud against her cheek…'I love you, Charlie…and I've been thinking that maybe we could think about getting out of racing soon, I mean, there's a lot more to life than going really fast round and round in big circles…' He peered down so that he could see her face…'and Miles and me... well we've been talking about starting up a security business together and if we were to have… I mean… if you were….'

'If I was pregnant maybe?'

His laugh rumbled his chest 'yeah, that…I'd want to be with you…'

She sat up, straddling his hips… she could just see out the window and it was a beautiful day…'Lets work it out as we go Bass... I mean, I love fast cars too… and I know that Dad and Danny would want us to be happy…' She grinned down at him… her lopsided, hellraiser grin, one eyebrow raised…'I mean, can you really imagine any kid of ours driving a wimpy car…?'

His laughter rang out like music to her ears…

…..

AN: well…. I know that they should probably agree to stop racing cars and live nice safe lives... but hey.. Charlie loves him for who he is! and vice versa... Thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed the ride...cheers... Magpie :)


End file.
